SUIT FILED
TO PROTECT OVER 750 MILES OF POTENTIAL WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS IN ARIZONA

The Center for Biological
Diversity (CBD) has filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service for its
failure to protect 57 of Arizona's rivers and streams that have been identified
as potential additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
The Forest Service identified the potential additions, which total over
750 miles in length, in a 1993 study. Since that time, however, the Forest
Service has failed to develop required management guidelines to ensure
that the rivers and streams will be protected until a final designation
is made under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. As this designation requires
Congressional approval and can take years or even decades to accomplish,
these guidelines provide critical interim protection from destructive
projects including dam proposals, powerline construction, excessive livestock
grazing, and logging. CBD's suit seeks to compel the Forest Service to
honor the requirements of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by immediately
providing management protections for Arizona's potential Wild and Scenic
Rivers.

"This is a significant
oversight," said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with Western Environmental
Law Center who is representing CBD. "Without adequate protection,
the Forest Service may approve projects and commit resources during the
National Forest planning process that would prejudice an eligible river's
chances of being included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system."

Preserving our remaining
free-flowing rivers is essential to the preservation of wildlife, especially
native fish and other endangered species in the arid West. Unfortunately,
the situation is desperate. For example, three-quarters of Arizona's 34
species of native fish are considered to be imperiled. River-dependent
wildlife in Arizona currently listed under the Endangered Species Act
include the bald eagle, Little Colorado River spinedace, Southwestern
willow flycatcher, Apache and Gila trout, loach minnow, Gila topminnow,
Yaqui catfish and Yaqui chub.

"The high number
of endangered species in Arizona reflects the immense damage we have done
to the environment, especially to rivers and surrounding riparian areas,"
said Segee. "Protecting these rivers is not only important to imperiled
wildlife, it is critical to our own well-being and survival."

The potential Wild
and Scenic rivers and streams, located on the Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino,
Coronado, Kaibab, Prescott, and Tonto National Forests, flow through an
incredible diversity of habitats, from mountaintop spruce-fir forests
to Sonoran desert cottonwood-willow riparian forests. Some of the proposed
waters include Tonto and Pinto Creeks on the Tonto National Forest, the
Black River and Blue River on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Oak
Creek and West Clear Creek on the Coconino National Forest, and Sabino
Creek, Grant Creek, and Sycamore Creek on the Coronado National Forest.

The Forest Service's
failure to protect Arizona's potential Wild and Scenic rivers is currently
allowing damaging projects to move forward which should be prohibited.
For example, the Coronado National Forest is considering a proposal by
Tucson Electric Power (TEP) to install a high-voltage power line across
Sycamore Creek, proposed for Wild and Scenic status because of its outstanding
wildlife and scenery.

The Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act was enacted to protect America's remaining free-flowing rivers
from dam proposals and other harmful projects. Since its passage in 1968,
over 10,500 miles of river nationwide on over 150 river segments have
been designated under the Act. However, there is currently only one Wild
and Scenic river in Arizona, a 40 mile stretch of the Upper Verde designated
in 1984.

The Center for Biological
Diversity, formed in 1989, protects endangered species and wild places
of western North America and the Pacific through science, policy, education,
and environmental law.

The Western Environmental
Law Center is a public interest environmental law firm dedicated to protecting
the West. WELC represents activists, Indian tribes, local governments
and citizen groups who seek to protect and restore the forests, rivers,
grasslands, wildlife, and human communities of the West.